Escape Route [or Rout] Projects and Such

I suppose any vehicle as old as this one and built as this one was built would inevitably require some fixup before becoming a cabin on wheels. I mentioned in an earlier post about the springs sagging, and the springs have arrived, waiting for the new shocks to get here.

But I’m going to remove that AC unit up there to get rid of the weight, replace it with a roof vent, which is in transit. That’s a lot of weight up there to be carrying around for something I’m unlikely to use much. And there’s evidence the roof structure doesn’t need the challenge it provides.

I covered that crack in the front window with Gorilla tape for now, but ultimately I’m thinking I’ll cut a flat piece of panel to place behind it and fill in the bubble-void with insulation foam.

Probably put a compartment in it for a GPS receiver with a better view of the sky than I’d get from the dashboard.

I’ll run Delorme Street Atlas on the laptop when I’m trying to navigate around towns, but I truly love Terrain Navigator where there’s enough variation in the terrain to justify using it. I’m rigging a stand for the laptop to swivel from one of the passenger-side neck-support posts.

This thing just posted by itself. I’m just going to finish it, editing in the rest, I reckons.

Anyway, once I get the AC off I’ll do a complete over on the roof with this stuff, and new caulking anywhere my imagination leads me. The critical path on this part is that I can’t pull off the AC until the 14×14 roof vent arrives to replace it.

I’ve been feeling the walls and ceiling inside and out, drilling through and squirting in a lot of that Great Stuff foam where I find a void, of which there are a sufficient number to allow me a sense of accomplishment.

Then there’s the matter of the cats. I’m making that overhead into a travel space for the cats to enjoy themselves in while we’re on the road. A place where they can’t contrive to get underfoot, or jump out at a gas station to find a new life for themselves.

Once we’re parked somewhere it will go back to being a bed, whatever, but on the road it will be a cage. They won’t like it, but they’ll like it better than all the alternatives they’d find in the alternative Universe they’d be choosing for themselves if they got loose.

And against the advice of people who know a lot more than I do about these matters, I’m going to find, or construct a small trailer to pull behind for large bags of cat food, tools, extra clothing, and probably some prospecting gear.

This thing’s for sale in San Antonio [Converse] on Craigslist for $100. If I weren’t so far from SA I’d snap it up, gut it and convert it to a light haul trailer with a top to pull behind the Toyota. Might be a ragged out popup is sitting behind someone’s house within a 40 mile radius they’d part with at a similarly righteous price.

But I’ve messed this post up enough for now. Maybe I’ll go into this more later on a post I haven’t already posted.

Hi One Fly: My plans are somewhat open and vague at the moment. I’m going, and the direction is west. That much I can say with certainty. Big Bend, the Davis Mountains of Texas, the Guadalupes in southeastern NM, the Magdalenas and San Mateos in NM, the Santa Fe Opera all are out there and in the right direction. Gracias, J

Elroyjones: There’s cause to hope that will be the case. But there are communists among them [Tabby’s a suspect] and the others are advanced enough in years with me to doubt the wisdom of my judgement insofar as what’s best for them a lot of the time. But one way or another we’ll all advance into this future in the same direction until someone escapes or croaks. They’re hoping it ain’t me. Gracias, J

Lindy Lee: Thus far in life I’ve found all my adventures to be temporary. I don’t anticipate ever coming to live again in this immediate area. But I know the anomalies of the Coincidence Coordinators well enough not to attempt to predict myself much more precisely than that. Gracias, J